Calling all USS Lexington CV-2 fans

[Mike Sills]

Very nice, Bob! Are those 5"/25s the kit pieces?

Mike

[Elvis965]

Thanks, Mike!

Yes, they are the kit pieces with the GMM railings attached. I thought they looked good enough that I didn't replace them with the L'Arsenal ones.

Now, the 5"/25's that came with my MHM Arizona are another story altogether. But then, that whole model is another story altogether!

Those I'll definitely replace with the L'Arsenal pieces.

Bob

[MartinJQuinn]

Put this together in response to a question I saw on another message board. It regards the major changes made to the Lex before the war. I thought it was worth posting here, might help those of you back dating the Trumpeter kit. The information is from Robert Stern's book The Lexington Class Carriers. As I may have mentioned, this book is, IMO, the best reference on this class available to date.

1935
- Four hull sponsons added. One at each bow and quarter, at the main deck level. Each held four .50 caliber AA guns.
- Existing searchlight platforms on funnel removed.
- New platform encircling funnel added. Twelve .50 cal AA guns added, six per side. Searchlights were placed in each corner of the platform, for a total of four

1936
- Flight deck widened forward, bow arrestor gear added

October 1940
- Four 3 in/50cal AA guns added to the corner platforms.
- Two .50cal AA guns on each platform displaced by the new 3inch guns
- Displaced .50 cal guns were mounted in pairs on top of the 8 inch gun mounts
- One 3in/50 cal AA gun mounted on deckhouse just forward of the funnel

June 1941(approx)
Repainted (MS1?)

August 1941
- The five 3in/50cal AA guns are replaced by like number of 1.1 inch guns.

What I haven't been able to determine is when the splinter shielding around the 5in/25 cal guns was added. I tried Googling on "The King Board", but couldn't come up with anything.

If you are backdating your Lexington with the YMW set, and want to paint her Standard Grey, it seems that the only thing missing is the 3in/50 cal guns. Not sure if L'Arsenal is going to do them, and I don't know of any available in 1/350. Please note that this post is just an attempt by me to put some of this info down in one spot. If I've missed anything, please feel free to chime in with corrections or additions.

HTH!

[Elvis965]

Martin,

Do you know when the boat cradle & boat that was below the boat deck outboard of the funnel was removed?

I haven't been able to find that in Stern.

Check out the pic of Lex on p. 144 in Stern. It's dated 1938 and the cradle is there. I'm not sure if it's still there in Oct 41 or not.

Bob

[Tracy White]

Do you know when the boat cradle & boat that was below the boat deck outboard of the funnel was removed?

If that's the one I'm thinking about it was when the 20mms were added in April '42.

[Elvis965]

Tracy,

Here is a pic of Sara, and you can see the boat I'm talking about underneath the the #1 boat on the boat deck:

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/020301.jpg

I suppose it would make the most sense that it came off in April, 42. I'll give the weapons chapter another going over.

Thanks!

Bob

[MartinJQuinn]

Tracy,

Here is a pic of Sara, and you can see the boat I'm talking about underneath the the #1 boat on the boat deck:

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/020301.jpg

I suppose it would make the most sense that it came off in April, 42. I'll give the weapons chapter another going over.

Thanks!

Bob

Bob,

I see which boat you are talking about. On my Sara build, I put the cradles on but left the boat off.

Do you have Wiper's book? There is a picture of Lex - in which you can see the starboard side - in a Ms12 scheme that may have the info you are looking for. Wiper dates the picture as being taken in 1941, but I believe that is incorrect, as the planes on the flight deck are blue/grey with red/white rudder stripes. That would make them sometime in early 1942.

I'm a work right now, so I don't have access to the book...but I think it might help narrow down a time frame for when the boat was removed.

[Elvis965]

Martin,

I don't have the Wiper book. I lost 4 or 5 auctions for it on eBay, and at this point in my build I can't see paying the prices they are going for in the auctions.

If you can take a look at it tonight and let me know, that'd be great!

Thanks again!

Bob

[MartinJQuinn]

Martin,

I don't have the Wiper book. I lost 4 or 5 auctions for it on eBay, and at this point in my build I can't see paying the prices they are going for in the auctions.

If you can take a look at it tonight and let me know, that'd be great!

Thanks again!

Bob

Bob,

I will do so. Someone once sent me a copy of the picture before Wiper did a book, but I can't find it!

[Mike Sills]

Bob & Martin,

I went back through notes I've been compiling for SARA and LEX builds.
SARA's 5/25 mounts had STS shielding when she emerged from her 120 day refit in June 1941. My notes indicate that LEX got the same "by mid 1941". I vaguely recall seeing a reference that said this was in August, but I cannot recall where I read it! Argh!

Color schemes: The weakest part of Wiper's WP#11 is the vague and sometimes erroneous dating of the otherwise wonderful photos.
Page 16 suggests that LEX was in MS12 in Aug 1941, and MS1/MS5 in Oct. This seems odd since MS 1 predated MS12 and I don't believe MS 12 was even in use prior to the fall of 1941. Those A/C on deck sure look like they have rudder stripes, which makes the photo early 1942. Stern suggests LEX was in MS12 when her 8" turrets were removed in March, and photos seem to show that she is being repainted while this is taking place, probably to MS11. The Snyder & Short database is vague, they have her in MS 12, then MS1/MS5, then back to MS 12 before ending up in MS11. (No wonder she burned at Coral Sea, all those layers of paint!)

Unconfirmed, but my best guess is that she was MS1/MS5 through Oct 1941, repainted to MS 12 in late 1941 or early 1942, and MS 11 in March 1942.

Cheers! Mike

[David Hogue]

I have followed this thread with interest because I am coming to the end of a long build of the Lexington back dated to early 42. I have Stern's book which is great, but not Wiper's book. Have you seen the new DVD Early Flattops? There is a great short segment in color of the Lex in fresh sea blue. It was taken at San Francisco and a plane is in blue paint which dates it to late 41. It seems unlikely to repaint just a couple of months later. By the way I decided to leave off the boats and boat cradles but leave the large boat davits outboard of the island for Early 42.

[Tracy White]

This seems odd since MS 1 predated MS12 and I don't believe MS 12 was even in use prior to the fall of 1941.

::snip::

The Snyder & Short database is vague, they have her in MS 12, then MS1/MS5, then back to MS 12 before ending up in MS11.

MS 12 was officially codified in the September of 1941 SHIPS-2 but that doesn't mean that there weren't ships painted in that scheme before then... they would have just been under a different designation... there's not that much different between Measure 2 and 12 other than 12 is a less complex grade.

I haven't touched the S&S database regarding the 1941 paints as pretty much everything we "knew" went out the window with Ron Smith's camouflage research... but he hasn't published those results yet and I haven't bothered to actually remember what he's told me in confidence.

[Elvis965]

SARA's 5/25 mounts had STS shielding when she emerged from her 120 day refit in June 1941.

I'm glad I left them on, then!

Have you seen the new DVD Early Flattops?

Do you mean "First Flattops"? Yes, I picked it up when Martin mentioned it in a post. Great movies of air ops on Lex, but nothing to solve my conundrum with the boat cradle.

My plan was to put a motor launch in the #2 & #3 davits, and leave #1 empty. I'm just unsure of what to do about the cradle. I went through Stern again and nary a mention of any motor launches, whale boats, davits, or cradles anywhere.

Tracy's suggestion that it came out when the 20mm gallery was installed makes the most sense. So I'll probably at least put the cradle in, then decide whether or not I want to drop a motor whale boat on it afterwards.

Thanks for all the input!

Bob

[nick]

You did a great job with the paintwork, Kym and I would like to see more of your pics soon

[Dustermaker]

sweet looking model and diorama. I still think that the Lexington/Saratoga are the coolest aircraft carriers ever made.

[Kym Knight]

I've just about finished the base along with the Sara and West Virginia, but something bloody huge came along and has side-lined the completion of the Arizona for now. I will post some pics of the progress soon.

[Tony Bunch]

Hi Guys,
Kym,
You've got my attention!
Absolutely stunning Sara. Going to be tough to out shine her!
Good skill!
Tony

[MartinJQuinn]

Bob - any progress on the Lex?

[Elvis965]

Hi Martin,

Getting there....slow but sure. I have one more strand of rigging to add to from the port flag box to the spreader arm, then I'll attach the mast and the rigging from the flag boxes to the yardarm.

Then the island goes on and the 8" turrets, and it'll be pretty much done except for the base and the airwing.

My GF convinced me to tear apart my bathroom and redo it, so my time's been split the last couple months...by July 4 I hope to have BOTH projects done!

Bob

[MartinJQuinn]

I edited this thread to take out some of the fluff and a couple of posts with dead picture links.